The subject matter described herein relates generally to sensing systems and particularly to exchanging data between sensing systems and a handheld communicator.
Environmental sensing systems may include a variety of sensors for detecting the presence and/or concentration of various chemicals in hazardous environments. For example, sensors may be used in hazardous environments for detecting the presence and/or concentration of hazardous (e.g., combustible, volatile, and/or toxic) gases. The environmental sensing system may be required to include intrinsically safe (IS) circuitry to mitigate potential danger from the possibility of combustion resulting from the operation of circuitry in the presence of the hazardous gas.
Handheld communicators may be used to exchange data with the sensing system, for example, to send instructions to the sensing system, and/or to download log files. However, the handheld communicator may not have a communication capability that is compatible with the sensing system. For example, the handheld device may utilize a wired connection using the HART protocol, whereas the sensing system may utilize an optical system based on the IrDA protocol. Additionally, introducing a wired connection in the workspace may require additional. IS circuitry and/or recertification (e.g., declassification and reclassification) of the workspace. Furthermore, the components that comprise the IS circuit (including connection wires) may be required to be partitioned such that the IS components do not directly interact with non-IS components.